AUTUMN

While the rest of the world shakes off winter, Australia feels a brisk freshness in the air as the leaves turn to crimson and gold.

"Tonight I saw autumn,
The sun fell quick in the early sky,
Leaving only the colors of its spilled paint.
Dripping away to a dark canvas,
And splashing an array of yellows, oranges, maroons, and red on the leaves below."

CHRYSANTHEMUMS were cultivated in China as a flowering herb as far back as the 15th Century BC. An ancient Chinese city was named Ju-Xian , meaning "chrysanthemum city". The flower was introduced into Japan  probably in the 8th century AD, and the Emperor adopted the flower as his official seal. There is a "Festival of Happiness" in Japan that celebrates the flower.

The flower was brought to Europe in the 17th century . Linnaeus named it from the Greek  prefix chrys-, which means golden (the colour of the original flowers), and -anthemon, meaning flower.